Will Solace and the Oracle's Cry (Re-upload from APHSIAO)
by AthenaIsCool6
Summary: Will Solace and Nico di Angelo go on a quest to save the Oracle of Delphi from Python. Along the way,they discover something darker going on. With African flesh-eating buffaloes, a goddess who won't get off Will's case, and a mortal Apollo tagging along, how will they complete their quest, and more importantly, figure out their feelings for each other? RE-UPLOAD from old account.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hello, internet! I'm pretty new here, so please heap on as much constructive criticism as you can! (Note the** _ **constructive**_ **part.) If you enjoy Solangelo, nutty sort-of prophecies, and Apollo, keep reading!**

 **I am the same person as A. , but for unknown reasons, I can't get back onto that account. I tried everything, but the only solution I found was to return to this old, dusty account from two years ago. So, yeah. It's me, sorry for the confusion and delay. I was going to stick to my once-every-two-week plan, but life got in the way, from school to my stupid brain getting distracted by everything on Youtube to having what I call a Writer's Crisis due to me realizing that I am in fact ace/aro, and subsequently feeling like I shouldn't be allowed to write romance of any kind. I'm thankfully (mostly) over that, so the Solangelo train has been pulled back onto it's tracks! Except now it's several months late, so... in a word, sorry.**

 **Disclaimer: All characters, settings, and gods belong to Rick Riordan, except for any mentioned OCs. I am not Rick Riordan, and therefore do not own this story. I do, however, get the plot, as it is going to be exceptionally bad-ass.**

 **Will Solace and the Oracle's Cry**

Chapter 1

The Oracle Goes Nuts

Will felt useless. The only reason he was in this meeting was because he was the head counsellor of the Apollo cabin. He didn't have any prophetic powers, like the twelve-year-old auger Cathy Naples or his brother Jack Polunn, and he definitely wasn't like Rachel Dare or Ella. Even Tyson was more useful than he, and Tyson was only here was to keep Ella from flying away in fright of Lupa, who kept glaring at Ella.

The meeting Will was in was about trying to restore prophecy to the camps. Ever since the Giant War ended, two months ago, there hadn't been a single prophetic dream, a single vision, or even one of Rachel's special "I am omniscient" paintings that showed an event that really happened. Even Will could feel something missing, like a small piece of his soul ripped out and left to cave in on itself. They had tried praying to Apollo, but every offering turned to ash, without so much as a bread crumb making it to his godly nostrils.

Chiron paced at one end of the table. Since the Romans were too "civilized" to hold an official meeting around a ping-pong table, they held it at the dinner pavilion, where the cleaning harpies sent them dirty looks. At the other end, Lupa prowled, occasionally snapping at an unfortunate harpy that got too close. Clovis snored away at Chiron's end, muttering helpful things like, "the cheese was sour" and "I'm _really_ starting to hate this song". Lou Ellen was holding a bowl of mysterious liquid, staring into it so intensely that she was going cross-eyed. Cathy Naples, a Roman granddaughter of Apollo, and Jack were in deep conversation with Rachel, and occasionally, Ella, about the deep workings of seeing the future. Will had trouble following it.

After almost half an hour of wasting time later, Will had had enough. "Why?" he blurted, cutting over Jack's comment about seeing huge snakes eating the sun.

Everyone stopped. Clovis fell off the table. Lou Ellen spilled some of her liquid, turning her hands sparkly pink and blue. Cathy cut her hand with the Imperial gold dagger she was holding.

"Why what?" Chiron asked. He stopped pacing.

"Why are we," Will glanced up at the sky nervously. He really didn't want to be turned into a tree, and his question might make some god angry. "Why are we even searching for Delphi, anyway? I mean, wouldn't it be better to not have prophecies at all? After all, if the First prophecy hadn't existed, the whole thing might not have even happened."

Cue thunder.

Everyone stared at him like he had lost his head, even Tyson. Of course they were. Saying the Oracle was unimportant, even going as far as blaming it for the Great Wars, was like saying "damn you!" to the gods. He had to ask, though. Because he had seen what the Oracle had done to Luke, and to Nico, and to Lee and Michael and everyone else who had died in the past six years. Will had watched Castor, son of Dionysus, die from poisoned bites, and he had watched a demigod fall 600 floors, from Mount Olympus itself. He had seen demigods he could have saved, if they hadn't been trampled into the forest ground by those wild horned centaurs. Knowing demigod luck, if they brought back the Oracle, they'd be hit with a third war.

Rachel leaned forward. "Will, you know the Oracle doesn't create Fate. The three Fates have a difficult and unpredictable job, and the Oracle simply gives warnings to make sure you are prepared."

Rachel probably would have said more, but at that moment, her eyes rolled up into the back of her head. Green smoke rolled out of her open mouth.

Everyone shouted, and instantly silenced themselves. Rachel plus smoke could only mean the oracle had returned, somehow. But Will could feel something just _wrong_ about the smoke. He glanced at Jack. The fourteen year old boy obviously sensed something wrong, too. He was glaring at the smoke like it had personally offended him, and his mouth was clenched, a sign that he was trying to hide pain.

Then the red smoke showed. Ella whimpered, and only Tyson's big bear hug kept her from escaping. She had her head buried in his arms, though. Will instantly knew that the Oracle was somehow ill. It was unwell, probably from wherever it had been.

" _The one you seek is taken!"_ Rachel shouted. The red smoke somehow obscured the words, and Rachel was clearly trying to shout loud enough to be heard. "... _reawakened! Light and Shadow journey to set... The time of darkness nears! ...fate!"_ The smoke lessened, and the last two lines were heard loud and clear. " _Beware Misery, the hero shall fear! The past come to haunt his soul!_ " Rachel finally collapsed, but instead of getting sucked back into her body like it usually did, the Oracle escaped through the columns of the pavilion. Will caught Rachel before she fell, but nearly froze up as she touched him. Her skin was so _cold_ , almost icy. Her pulse was unnaturally faint and slow, and she didn't seem to be _breathing_. She was _freezing_.

"She's dying!" Will shouted. But nobody else seemed to be in any condition to help her. Cathy and Jack were bent double in pain, and Chiron and Lupa were helping them. Clovis, now very awake, was scribbling down the words, and Tyson was chasing after Ella, who was screeching, "Bad! Bad! Yellow fever, black plague, death!" Lou Ellen was pulling out packets of healing potions, ambrosia, and nectar, but those only worked on demigods. Rachel was mortal.

Will concentrated on singing the most powerful healing hymn he knew: The Song of Life. [Ο Λόρδος OH Απόλλωνα ευλογήσει αυτό το ακυβέρνητο ψυχής με τη δεύτερη ζωή. Ο Λόρδος OH Άδη απορρίπτουν αυτή την ψυχή μόνο μια φορά, γι 'αυτό ήρθε η ώρα δεν έχει έρθει ακόμα.] When that only sped her heart rate up a bit, he knew he had to try something he hadn't done since he had almost killed himself healing Percy Jackson when he was eleven. He exhaled and concentrated.

His hands glowed, softly at first, but stronger as he pushed it. He pushed them down on Rachel's chest, concentrating on healing her. He could feel every injury she had, even the blister on her foot. He pushed his life force into her, making her body heal at hyperspeed. After an intense minute, Rachel's vitals returned to normal. Her breathing stabilized, and she began to sleep.

Will sat back on his heels, sweaty and drained. Healing with his life force was dangerous work, especially with Rachel so close to her other demigods stared at Will, wide-eyed. As far as he knew, Will was the only demigod who could heal like that. He generally tried to keep his ability quiet, saving it as a last resort. But even Kayla, the oldest Apollo camper after him and the one with the most diverse list of talents, couldn't heal with her life force. "She's...fine," Will managed to say. "Can I have... some ambrosia?"

Lou Ellen jumped forward, eager to finally be able to help, and pushed an ambrosia cracker into his hand. Nico di Angelo burst in suddenly, sweaty and red in the face. Will found himself a little more breathless. "Who's dying?" he shouted. His eyes darted around, before landing on Will, Lou Ellen, and Rachel. "Will- Rachel! I thought I was too late!"

Lou Ellen looked at him. "Late for what?"

"I could _feel_ someone's life force draining!" Nico said, rushing to Will's side. "What on Olympus happened?"

Will shoved the cracker in his mouth. "The Oracle," he said with his mouth full. He swallowed, savoring the taste of apple pie for a moment. "It somehow came back to Rachel, but it was like..." He trailed off, trying to find a proper description for the strange red mist.

"Like it was fighting itself," supplied Jack. Chiron supported him, so he could sit up.

Clovis nodded, looking like he was trying his hardest to not fall asleep. "I recorded the words," he said. "But I couldn't get them all. There was this red thing, and it was sort of obscured them, but I got this."

He held up the paper proudly.

Cathy didn't move to get up, but she said, "Did that prophecy seem, I don't know, odd to anyone? I mean, besides the obvious."

Will had no clue what she meant, but Lou Ellen nodded. "You're right," she said. "I'm no prophet or auger, but when a prophecy is spoken, I can usually scry it pretty well." She gestured to her bowl with one sparkly hand. "I'm getting nothing, though."

"I think it was some sort of emergency call," Jack said. "Kind of like when Hera possessed Rachel when she was trapped in the Wolf House."

Will stopped following the conversation there. Nico sat down next to Will. "Hey," he greeted.

"Hey." Will relaxed instantly. In the two months since the Giant War ended, he and Nico had become good friends, as well as Lou Ellen and Cecil. He grinned. "So, you ran halfway across camp to see Rachel."

Nico reddened. "Well, she was _dying_ ," he said. "Also, I couldn't tell who was dying, just that someone was. I thought... I don't know what I thought, actually. I would have shadow-traveled, but it's harder during the day, and I wanted to actually be able to do something."

For some stupid reason, that made Will inexplicably happy. He shoved the thought in the back of his mind and asked, "What do you think?"

"About the prophecy?" Nico asked. "Honestly, I just hope it won't involve more wars. After all these camps have been through, another war might end us."

Then, Chiron said, "We need to bring this to the demigods. Let's adjourn this meeting and bring this issue up at campfire time. Agreed?"

Lupa nodded. "This matter must be settled by the camps."

As the others left, Will and Nico got up, but Chiron looked at them. "Will, Nico, I have to talk to you."

"Sir?" Will asked politely. He was still feeling a little empty on the inside from the intense healing, and he really wanted to rest.

Chiron sighed. His brown eyes seemed darker. "That line about light and darkness... you know what that means, don't you?"

Will blinked at him, unsure of what the centaur was hinting at, but Nico sighed and nodded.

"I was hoping I was wrong about that," Nico said. "I mean, darkness- I knew that was probably me, but the light part..."

A sinking feeling fell into Will's gut. He really hoped that Chiron and Nico weren't saying what he thought they were.

Chiron nodded gravely. "I do believe that part was referring to the two of you."

Schizt. "This is karma for asking why we needed to be concerned about the Oracle, isn't it."

Will expected Chiron to- well, not laugh, but take it as a joke, but the old centaur simply said, "I would not put it past the Moirae, Will."

That night, the campfire was in full swing. Whenever the Romans visited, Chiron and Lupa temporarily abolished cabin and cohort restrictions during mealtimes and campfires. They said it was to give all the campers a learning experience, but everyone knew it was to let the Seven (now Six) sit together.

Nico dragged Will, Lou Ellen, and Cecil to sit with Reyna, Coach Hedge, Mellie, Chuck and Clarisse. Will wasn't exactly intimidated by Reyna or the Coach, but he gave Chuck, who was punching the air with angry baby fists, a wide berth. He still hadn't forgotten delivering that baby. It still gave him nightmares, even though Chuck was cute and Will was godfather. That was the other shocking (and disturbing) part. Will was a _godfather_ , and _Clarisse_ was the godmother. Ugh.

Lou Ellen was scowling at Hazel. Will didn't quite understand their rivalry, but he suspected it had something to do with Hazel's magic. Hazel seemed to notice Lou Ellen glaring daggers in her back, and turned from her seat with the Seven. She scowled briefly at Lou Ellen, then caught sight of Nico and grinned. She leapt out of her seat and went over to Nico.

"Come on! Sit with us!" She said. Nico hesitated, then let her drag him away. Will had a sudden urge to slap Hazel and take Nico back.

 _Whoa, there_ , Will reprimanded himself. _Nico is not your patient any more. You can't be so possessive over him, no matter how injury-prone he is._

Somehow, he got the felt that that feeling was about something not doctor-related, though.

Everyone was in a festive mood. This was the first time since the end of the war that the two camps had gotten together, and almost everyone wanted to get to know their new siblings and cousins. Of course, some people, like Quincy Matthews of Ares and Patel Vix from the First Cohort were resolutely refusing to acknowledge or even tolerate the presence of the other demigods, an attitude Will was afraid would be exacerbated by the quest.

After several minutes of relaxing (and avoiding the thought that this might be his last night at Camp Half-Blood), Will was called to the center along with his siblings. This was the one part of campfires that Will didn't much like. Even though, like Kayla, Jack, Austin, Beryl, Layla, Victoria, and little Matty, he had perfect pitch, he wasn't much of a musician. He could sing and play instruments on key, and that was about it. Will always tried to look as confident as he could while hiding behind his ukelele, the only instrument he was more than decent at. However, today he was going to be joined by several Roman children and descendants- _legacies_ \- of Apollo, and as the only leader, Will was expected to lead the singing. He just hoped that none of them were as awful as Octavian.

Will managed to get by two cheesy songs-Grandmother Goes to War, and the Armor Song by playing the ukulele. Then Vincent, a Roman from the Fourth Cohort, ruined it.

"Let's let our Greek leader lead a song now!" He said with an competitive grin. "We wouldn't want to delegate him to the _ukulele_ , now would we?"

Will generally wouldn't have been riled up, but something about the Roman kid just set him off. Maybe it was the lingering Greek-Roman rivalry, even though that was supposed to be healed by the Athena Parthenos, or maybe Vincent just reminded him of a _certain_ other descendant of the Sun God.

Will stiffly pushed his ukulele into Kayla's arms, as the fourteen year old girl gave him a concerned look. He told Austin to break out his guitar. Ignoring the question of "Are you sure," Will marched over to Vincent, looked him straight in the eye, and said, "Sure."

The campers started to have a competitive edge to them, too. Hermes and Mercury kids were exchanging bets, and Greeks and Romans were grouping up. The only ones who seemed to not be affected were, strangely enough, Vivian E, Tori Foster, and Sam Chance, the three children of Nike.

A little bit of uncertainity leaked into Will's mind. What on earth could he sing? It wasn't as if he was the best musician in the world.

He looked up at the area where his friends were sitting. He could see their faces. Cecil was grinning in a _I can't wait to see my friend screw up!_ kind of way, and Lou Ellen was almost ready to march down and smack Hazel in the face. He didn't see Nico for one panicky moment, before he spotted him squeezed between Hazel and Jason. Nico looked both annoyed and happy at the same time, an expression only he seemed to be capable of.

Will smiled as he thought up the perfect song to sing. He leaned back and told Austin, whose expression had changed from worried to challenging. He looked straight at Nico and sang, ¨ _Hold on to me as we go, as we roll down this unfamiliar road. Although this wave is stringing us along, Just know youŕe not alone. 'Cause I'm gonna make this place your_

 _Home.¨_

Will only looked at Nico as the rest of the Apollo Cabin backed him up with the _Ooh-ooh-ooh ooooh_ part of the song.

¨ _Settle down, it'll all be clear, Pay no mind to the demons, they fill you with fear. The trouble, it might drag you down, If you're lost you can always be found. Just know you're not alone._

 _I'm gonna make this place your home.¨_


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: All characters, settings, and gods belong to Rick Riordan, except for any mentioned OCs. I am not Rick Riordan, and therefore do not own this story. I do, however, get the plot, as it is going to be exceptionally bad-ass.**

 **I probably should have mentioned this in the first chapter, but I do not own "Home" by Phillip Phillips either.**

 **Will Solace and the Oracle's Cry**

Chapter 2

Goddesses Interfere (and, as usual, screw things up)

Will was feeling pretty good about himself, until he looked up. Above him floated a woman with long braided black hair, with white wings and a laurel wreath. Will didn't know who she was, but he would bet his legs that the woman was a goddess.

The children of Nike, Sam Chance and Tori Foster paled, and Vivian squeaked, "Mom?"

Several campers gasped as they realize just who they were being visited by. She was one of the few minor goddesses equally revered by both the Greeks and the Romans. After all, everyone loves victory.

Will hoped it was a good sign that victory had visited before his quest, but with demigod luck, it was just as likely that she had come to curse them into epic failure.

Nike's facial features were smooth and hard, like she had been carved out of stone. She nodded to her children, then glared about impassively and asked, "Well? Where's the respect?"

The Roman campers almost fell over themselves to kneel to Nike. The Greeks followed with less enthusiasm, reluctantly bowing. Will stepped back so he could bow as well.

"Rise, demigods," she boomed regally.

Chiron and Lupa stepped forward together.

"Lady Nike," Chiron asked. "What brings you here?"

Nike held up a laurel wreath.

"I can only enter this camp when there is a competition that needs a victor." She looked almost wistful as she said, "I do wish I could have arranged a fight to the death, the way they did it in the old days and _Hunger Games_."

Hazel, Frank, and Percy suddenly looked mildly ill.

"Perhaps luckily for you, I found a much less deadly competition to judge," Nike said.

Nike landed in front of Will, who took another step back. She shimmered for a moment, and her wings sucked into her back with a _shirk!_ sound.

"A singing competition!" she shouted. "Greek verses Roman."

Everyone looked at Vincent, who's eyes widened. He shook his head, as if clearing it. "You don't mean-"

Nike tossed a microphone to Vincent, who caught it with reflexes only a demigod could have.

Vincent's eyes flitted between Nike, Will, and the audience, before he raised the microphone to his lips.

Will quickly realized that Vincent was _good_ at singing. He didn't recognize the song pouring from the other boy, something about shaking 'it' off, but he was _rocking_ the song. He was relaxed and confident, undaunted at all by either stage fright or the goddess standing less than twenty feet away from him.

It was really no contest. Before Vincent even finished, Nike's golden laurel wreath poofed out of her hands and appeared on Vincent's head.

"Well, that wasn't much of a competition," Nike said, sounding rather disappointed. "Yay, Romans. Anyway, back to business. I come on behalf of Zeus with important information about the Oracle. He has chosen quite the unfortunate time to curse Apollo-"

All of Will's siblings gasped, even the Romans. "Wait," Will said. "Cursed?"

Nike turned to him. Her mouth was pressed into a permanent scowl, as if she spent a whole lot of time making tough decisions. "Zeus has decreed that for Apollo's crimes of encouraging his legacy Octavian, aiding in an attempt to return from the dead, and allowing his Oracle to fall into enemy hands, he is to be banished from Olympus and wander the Earth as a mortal for one hundred years."

Shocked silence reigned at this declaration. Will was first shocked, then a sneaky, dark thought crept into his mind: _It's time he learned what it's like to be a mortal._ He quickly put that thought out of his head.

Percy said, "Wait, if Apollo is wandering around as a mortal, then who's pulling the sun chariot?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "No one is, Seaweed Brain, haven't you noticed how dull the sun's become? The Mist is working overtime to cover up the lack of sun chariot. In other parts of the world, there's some serious cloud cover."

"The Mist can do that?"

"It's happened twice before, you know."

"Enough!" Nike said. "This is important," she said and continued, "he has, however, made an...oversight."

Annabeth, standing from her place next to Percy, said, "it's the coming of winter, isn't it?"

Lou Ellen shouted, "This isn't Game of Thrones, Chase!"

The demigods broke into scattered snickers and small arguments.

"Children, calm down," Chiron said, stomping his hind leg. "Lady Nike has more yet to say."

Lupa sniffed and muttered, "How disrespectful. If they were Roman..."

Nike sighed. "The daughter of Athena is correct," she said. "With the waning of the sun comes the diminishing of Apollo's powers. Normally, this wouldn't cause a problem, as Apollo can just conserve his powers, but with his banishment, all his spheres of influence are diminished. As a part of Apollo's domain, this affects the Oracle too. And since Delphi's spirit is being held captive by Python, she might not be strong enough to survive. Her spirit is already weakening quickly. Zeus believes that if Delphi is not rescued by the Fall Equinox, the oracle could fade away permanently."

The campfire darkened throughout her speech, until it was a dark bluish-green color. Will's eyes widened. The quest sounded dangerous enough already, without a deadline and as well.

Cecil suddenly stood, causing a chain reaction of tripping demigods. Will shook his head, thinking, _Only him_. "Wait!" Cecil shouted. "What happened to my dad, Hermes? Shouldn't he be the one to deliver his message?" The other Hermes kids jerked in surprise and worry, as if the thought had just occurred to them.

Nike shifted, looking rather guilty. "Hermes is fine. However, as Zeus's charioteer, I am privy to many of his secrets. He would... rather not announce to all of Olympus his... error."

An awkward silence descended. Thunder rumbled, as if Zeus was warning the campers to keep quiet or else.

"I traced Delphi to North Dakota-"

Dakota, the retired Roman centurion, yelped, "I didn't do it!" A few Greeks gave him odd looks, but most Romans were used to their wildest centurion's antics.

Hazel added, "I thought that Delphi was in Mount Parnassus, in Greece. Apollo told me in Delos that Python had awakened."

 _Rachel said something about reawakening_ , Will realized. _Isn't Python a huge snake dragon?_ He remembered learning about it in monster-fighting class.

Annabeth looked glad to finally be talking about something she understood. "When Gaea fell, so did the power that was anchoring monsters to ancient Greece. Those monsters must have been brought here, including Delphi. She must be in White Butte, the mountain that works as today's Mount Parnassus."

"Heh, white bu-" Percy muttered, but he was cut off by Nike.

"-before I felt a sudden spike here earlier," Nike finished. She gave Rachel a small, sideways look.

Chiron asked, "Is there any more you wished to say, Lady Nike?"

"Just one." She turned and said to Will, "It is against my nature to grant victory to one who by nature would have lost. Know that your successes are made by your hand alone. Do not let anyone, especially _her_ , into your head."

Will frowned. "What _her_ -"

Nike began glowing. Will shut his eyes to block out the searing light, and when it disappeared, so did the goddess.

Chiron spoke. "During the meeting today, our Oracle made... a short return."

The campers didn't make as big a clamor as Will figured, although Vincent did whirl around to ask Cathy Naples why she didn't mention it to him.

Chiron explained the situation, reading out the parts that Clovis caught and describing in detail the effect the Oracle had on Rachel, Cathy, and Jack. He finished by saying, "While Delphi's words were unclear, the action we must take is obvious. A quest has been issued, and I believe I know who must go."

Frank stood and asked, "A mixed quest? Greeks and Romans together?"

Cheers rose at the idea, but Lupa said, "No. This is the Greek's oracle that is affected, and as such, Greek demigods will be required."

"In fact, we have already decided on two of the demigods," Chiron said.

Malcolm, a son of Athena, frowned and said, "It's Nico."

All eyes turned to Nico, who shifted uncomfortably, as if he wanted nothing more than to disappear in the shadows. He asked in a surly voice, "How would you know, Malcolm?"

" _Light and Shadow journey_ ," he quoted. "Who else fits that? Now we just have to figure out who _Light_ is. But you were saying, Chiron?"

Chiron smiled. "Indeed, Nico di Angelo has been chosen to go on this quest, as well as Will Solace, son of Apollo."

Eyes shifted towards Will. He waved. "Hi."

He could tell what the older kids, the ones who had been there when he healed Percy with his life force, were thinking. _Could it be... No way! He almost died last time! That stuff is_ dangerous.

The younger kids and Romans probably just thought that it was due to his sunny personality.

Chiron said, "We need a volunteer to go on this quest with them!"

Silence reigned. Everyone glanced at each other, like they wanted to volunteer someone else.

"A satyr?" Someone suggested. "Nico, weren't you brought in by Grover Underwood?"

Nico shrugged. "Well, he was the one who found me. But if you want to be technical, the Hunters of Artemis and Apollo were the ones who brought me and..." He fell silent.

Everyone knew that Will wasn't brought in by a satyr keeper, and nobody asked.

There were a few more suggestions, and one pair of Stolls nearly skewered by Clarisse when they suggested baby Chuck. Will silently cheered Clarisse on. He might still be disgusted by the baby satyr's presence, but gods damnit, he was the kid's _godfather_. The fact that he really didn't want to go run around with a baby had absolutely nothing to do with it.

The Six and Reyna all quickly denied when they were asked, saying that they had been through more than enough danger.

The Demeter cabin's botany powers clashed with Nico's necromancy.

The single occupant of the Dionysus cabin, Pollux, was high on Kool-Aid and singing a mournful song with Dakota and a few other Bacchus legionaires.

Everyone in the Hypnos cabin was asleep.

The Hermes kids were all high on some combination of coffee and extra-sugary chocolate, and had to be sent into the woods to let out some steam.

Nobody even wanted to ask the Hephaestus kids, who were still mourning their best leaders ever, Leo Valdez and Charles Beckendorf.

Even the children of Ares declined, saying that they were still recovering and rearming their land mines, after the children of Hermes stole them and put them on various hills, none of which was the actual battle-site. Will had a feeling Clarisse just wanted to watch over Chuck, who had practically become a surrogate member of the Ares cabin.

Will scowled. "Thanks for the support, guys."

Mitchell, son of Aphrodite, of all people sent him a sheepish look. "Look, man, it's not like we-"

"Save it," Will snapped. Today had already been a long day. He didn't want to add jerk heartbreakers to the mix. "Look, if nobody else wants to be on this quest, Nico and I will go alone."

Nico nodded, looking annoyed by the proceedings. "Yeah. Besides, other people cramp my style."

"But-"

"He's right," Rachel said suddenly. "I don't really know for sure, but I think this quest should just be the two of them. I just have a feeling, it would be bad if someone else went."

The demigods glanced at each other. An Oracle's words were never to be dismissed, even if the spirit that gave Rachel her powers was locked in a mountain somewhere.

Percy spoke, his voice tinged with worry. "It's always been three quest members. Just because the prophecy only mentioned two doesn't mean that there isn't a third person."

Annabeth rebuked, "It's not always three members."

"Look how well _that_ turned out," Percy said, uncharacteristically bitter.

Nico paled and turned away.

Will glared at Percy. "We'll be _fine_ , Percy. Get over yourself," he snapped angrily.

Several other campers gave Percy the stink-eye, and he backed down, looking both contrite and insulted.

"My Hephaestus cabin friends repaired the flying chariot," Will continued, trying to get his mind off the sudden spike of dark feelings for the son of Poseiden. "We can use that, because I'm _still_ not allowing Nico to shadow-travel unless it's an emergency."

"Well," Chiron said, "it is settled. A quest of two will go to North Dakota to find and save the spirit of Delphi." The campers cheered. "They will have to rescue it by the Autumn Equinox, lest Delphi fade away permanently. They leave tomorrow morning. Let's allow them to rest up for the start of their new quest."

After one last cheer, the slightly greenish bonfire extinguished, and the campers dispersed to their cabins or temporary shelters.

Will had the strangest dream that night. He supposed it was fitting, that he got the demigod dreams that accompanied all quests of any purpose.

The dream started off as a memory. An eleven year old Will Solace, in his first year at camp, pushed through a crowd of worried campers and nymphs.

On the forest floor lay twelve year old Percy Jackson, curled up with a red sting mark on his hand.

Several Apollo campers, Will's siblings that had already perished or graduated, lowered their heads, knowing he couldn't be saved from the deadly poison in his body.

Then the dream changed. Now Will was watching thirteen year old Nico in awe during the Titan War. He was fighting at his father's side, commanding an army of the dead as he slashed through monsters.

He saw the moment where Nico stumbled over a centaur's leg, and fifteen year old Will caught him and hauled him to his feet.

"You injured?" Will asked.

Nico shook his head, saying, "Thanks," before dashing away.

Suddenly, Will was standing in the infirmary, wearing green scrubs and jeans (totally a look only he could pull off), watching over Nico, sleeping off his intense shadow-travel experience from two months ago. They were the only ones in the infirmary, which _wasn't_ empty two months ago. A voice next to him spoke, making him jump. "You're good for him, Will. I'm _so_ glad I made you my new couple to watch!"

Will jumped and turned. Sitting perched on the next cot was the most beautiful woman Will had ever met.

Her features seemed fluid, changing colors and size the more Will looked at her. Her hair turned from straw blond to a shade of brown that made Will want to strangle her, before it quickly turned into a slightly choppy inky black 'do. Her skin went from pale and soft to a healthy olive color. She seemed to shorten, and a simple long sleeved black dress replaced whatever she was wearing before, which Will couldn't recall. She looked- well, she looked a bit like _Nico_ , if he was a female love goddess.

"Aphrodite," Will stuttered.

The goddess smiled winningly at him. "Will Solace."

Will's brain melted. He blurted out, "What are you doing in my dream?"

"Why, I'm getting a check-up, of course."

Will stared at Aphrodite. "You're a goddess," he said bluntly. "Why on Olympus would you _need_ a check-up?"

She laughed, throwing her head back. "Everyone needs a check-up, hon. Even the gods."

Will resisted the urge to do something not very appropriate for a doctor. Instead, he glanced behind him to see Nico shift on his cot. Suddenly he just couldn't wait to get out of that dream.

As if answering a prayer, the dream shifted and changed once more.

He was sitting in a chair in a room filled with the comfiest beds imaginable, with big, fluffy pillows and thick comforters. In the biggest bed, a familiar tousled-haired boy blinked at him.

"Clovis?" Will asked.

"Hello, Will," Clovis said. "What in Hades were you dreaming that was so scary I felt a vibe from you? You're welcome for that, by the way."

Will hesitated, but Clovis was an experienced dream-walker. Perhaps he could explain what those dreams meant. He described the dream, asking what it meant that the love goddess visited him in his dream.

Clovis, while asleep, turned out to be an amazingly good listener. He was also very helpful. "Well, the memories are probably either symbolic, or were sent by some monster to try to unsettle you. And if Aphrodite visited you, that means that she's interested in you."

"I know _that_ ," Will said.

"It also means she's going to make your love life... interesting."

Will groaned. He _always_ fell for the wrong guy. If Aphrodite was going to mess around with him, he would probably end up slitting his own throat. "Well, how do I get her to stop?"

Clovis looked at Will, amused. "You-"

Whatever he was going to say was cut off, as Will suddenly was pulled into another dream. He was hanging by his ankle as he flew across a strange rocky landscape towards a white flat-topped mountain. He began to struggle, before realizing that if he fell from this height, he'd be splattered on the rock-filled floor below. Could he be hurt in dreams? Will decided not to find out.

When Will reached the mountain, he swooped down to the opening of a cave. That wasn't reassuring, because Greek myths had a bad history with caves.

The thing holding Will let go, and Will braced himself for a roll maneuver the Romans had taught him. It seemed that he didn't need to, though, as he somehow landed upright.

"So," a deep, earth-pounding voice said. "This is the champion they send to fight me."

Will gulped. He felt like Bilbo Baggins wandering the caverns of gold-a mixture of awe and intense fear.

"Um," Will said. His throat felt dry and scratchy, a sensation he wasn't used to. "Are you- I mean, where..."

The menacing voice laughed. It sounded drier and scratchier than his own, as if whoever was speaking had a throat lined with sandpaper or scales. "Why was I worried in the first place? Bah! My _true_ enemy, Apollo, wanders about unwittingly, drawn ever closer to my revenge! His weakened state will allow me to finish him, just as he once finished me! And you, dirty cretin, have no power to stop me!"

On that cheery note, Will woke up just as the Mist-made fake sun rose over Camp Half-Blood.

 **AlbinoMuskrat: Thanks for being my first reviewer! And don't worry, even if you're currently a Reynico fan (I read your stories) I'll convert you soon enough.**

 **Hotcisawesome: Thanks! Here!**

 **VON: I have no idea what** _ **djshsihdhdb**_ **means, but thank you too.**

 **rainbowchameleon: I reread the prophesy that I put in the prophesy, and you are right. I meant to write** _ **that line about light and shadow**_ **, not darkness.**

 **Guest(who should probably think up a more exciting name than** _ **guest**_ **;) ): Well, here's more.**

 **xxspiritxx: Yes, indeed he did. I'm actually not a huge Phillip Phillips fan, but the lyrics of** _ **Home**_ **struck me as the kind of thing Will must have been thinking in that final battle.**

 **Mia Martell: I would like to see where this goes, too!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Will Solace and the Oracle's Cry**

Ch.3

The Cursed Arrow

Will sat straight up, covers spilling off him. Through the window, he could see the dim light of the sun rising.

 _It's not Apollo's chariot_ , Will thought. _Just a Mist cover_.

He vaguely wondered what Rachel saw. A pitch black sky, perhaps? No, Day was a goddess as well. So the sky would still be blue for those who could see through the Mist.

Will had packed everything he needed, so there wasn't much to do until the quest started after the others woke.

He glanced around. The clock read _5:37._ Nobody else was quite awake yet. Kayla was yawning in her sleep, and Matty was hugging his explosive teddy bear (a gift from Tessa, a Hecate girl who was also nine). The others were still slumbering. They'd be up soon, though. All children of Apollo rose with the sun.

Will sighed, knowing he wouldn't get any more sleep. He got dressed and headed outside, too nervous and jittery to stay in the cabin.

He wandered around camp aimlessly for a few minutes, wondering about his dream. That menacing voice had to be Python.

Last night, after Will returned to his cabin, Kayla and her best friend Paul Li from Athena read the story of Apollo and Python to him. According to the story, 4-days-old Apollo used golden arrows given to him by Hephaestus and shot Python in the forehead. Then, for committing a crime, Zeus ordered Apollo to be 'purified'. Apparently, Will's dad got in trouble an awful lot.

Will really hoped that he wouldn't have to be purified, if- _when_ he and Nico returned.

But Will remembered hearing that Python boiled with rage after just _seeing_ Apollo as a baby. How would the monster react to seeing his nemesis's teenage son?

And then there were the earlier parts of the dream. What did Aphrodite say, something about a 'new couple to watch'?

 _¨You're good for him. I'm so glad I made you my new couple to watch!¨_

Will could feel his face turning red. Will had been in relationships with boys before- well, one relationship, and that hadn't turned out very well. He tended to keep the part of his brain that checked other dudes out locked up tight. But...

Nico was from the forties. He was from a time where people like Will were sent to concentration camps or the asylum, to be protect the general public from them.

 _After the quest, I'll explain._ Will decided. Until then, they had to work together. He just really hoped that Nico wouldn't hate him.

As Will wandered past the strawberry fields, where a few early morning dryads were playing tag, he realized someone was walking next to him. He quickly recognized Lupa, the Roman wolf goddess.

"You are disturbed, _graecus_ ," Lupa said. "Are you not honored to be chosen to undergo a quest?"

Will sighed. "I, well, I suppose it's an honor. It's just..." He trailed off, abashed to be spilling his guts to a goddess, especially one as intimidating as Lupa.

Romans are known to be brutal. If you show weakness to them, they will not hesitate to _replace_ you. Lupa raised her twin sons Romulus and Remus, and Romulus killed his brother to become the ruler of Rome. She showed no mercy.

Then again...

Will was the only person, along with Nico, who was willing to go on the quest. It wasn't as if Lupa intended to smite him if he showed weakness. Probably.

Lupa watched him silently. Her hard wolf stare didn't bother him, but the tautness of her pose, as if she was ready to spring on some unsuspecting prey, and the way she circled around him even as he walked past the strawberry fields and began treading the path near the forest did.

The Romans had just as much at stake as the Greeks did, he realized. The ancient priests of the Oracle of Delphi had written the Syllabine books as she spouted the prophecies, and if he and Nico failed, the secrets of the future might be lost forever. Lupa was helping the best way she knew how, by making sure the chosen champions were prepared.

Will wasn't prepared. The bravado he had expressed at the campfire, that _we'll be fine, stop fussing!_ attitude that he had during the discussions, was all fake. Ever since he had been brought to camp when he was 11, he hadn't been outside, except for the Battle of New York. Even his little spying excursion with Lou Ellen and Cecil had taken place just outside the camp borders. But... Maybe Lupa could help him.

"Well, I- I'm not a fighter." Will said. "I mean, I'm decent with a bow, and I'm no stranger to blood, but I miss the bullseye 2 times it of 5. Fighting with a spear or sword-pfft. I'd impale myself. I'm a healer, and a pretty good one at that, but I'm not quest taker. I might even-" Will stopped himself. _Too far_ , he told himself.

Still, his unspoken worry seemed to leak out of him. _Slow Nico down. Fail._

Lupa's wolf stare didn't waver once. They continued walking, ignoring the sounds of monsters roaring in the woods near them.

"If we were in Ancient Rome, you would have been killed for openly expressing your weakness like that. An empire has no use for cracked bricks," Lupa said. Her canines were revealed in a snarl. They were slightly yellowed, as if years of eating weak demigods' flesh had weakened them oh so slightly.

Will could have kicked himself. _How stupid would it be,_ he thought _, to die by a Roman goddess's hand because I went all mushy on her?_

Then Lupa turned her head away from Will and stopped circling him. "But we are not in Ancient Rome. We are in a republic, where free thought is the currency of the community. You are wiser than you think, Will Solace. Listen to your intuition more."

Will relaxed. For some reason, he felt as if he had just passed a huge test.

They were quiet for a few minutes, just walking side by side as the forest thinned out and they approached the beach of the Long Island Sound. Then Lupa spoke.

"You know Cathy Naples, our young auger?"

Will nodded. "My Roman sister. I healed her arm after the battle with Gaea. Leagues better than the anemic loser tha- I mean Octavian." He hastily corrected himself after Lupa raised a wolfish eyebrow.

Lupa growled at a passing butterfly, that turned tail and flew like it's life depended on it. "In some ways, she's quite like you. She's a natural archer, a strong warrior. Her gift of prophecy was also quite limited, before she accepted the mantle, so when I appointed her as auger, she was quite resistant to the idea. She rather despised Octavian, so she had no interest whatsoever in taking that tarnished position."

"How did you change her mind?" Will asked.

"Oh, she realized where her destiny lied. She will remove the stain Octavian left on the auger position and on Romans in general."

They were passing the beach now. Lupa turned to face him. "In the same way," she said. " _Your_ destiny involved going on this quest. Destiny cannot be fought. Will Solace, son of Apollo, know this: you have saved Roman lives in war, and for this, Camp Jupiter thanks you. You may be Greek, but we will welcome you if you ever choose to visit."

Lupa turned and ran silently away, disappearing in the shadows of the sun.

As Will walked back to get the chariot ready, he took a shortcut through the temporary Roman camp. The camp was more like a moveable city, with buildings could be disassembled and transported elsewhere with ease. Annabeth and some of her siblings spent hours studying the infrastructure here.

As Will passed by one of the barracks, someone shouted, "Hey, Will Solace! Beanpole!"

Vincent the Roman jogged up to him. He was wearing a purple t-shirt and flannel pajama pants, and the laurel wreath from yesterday was missing.

"Hi."

Vincent hesitated and cleared his throat before plowing forward. "Listen," he said. "I, ah, wanted to apologize."

Will stared.

Vincent scratched the back of his neck. "Um, yeah. For my behavior last night. Like, I know I can be a jerk sometimes, but I don't usually go out to provoke people. Actually, that's a lie, but- Hey! Why are you laughing?"

Will continued to chuckle, saying, "Chill, dude, I'm a son of Apollo, too. I get it."

Under the light demeanor, a silent message passed between the two brothers. It was the fatal flaw of children of Apollo-jealousy- that Nike used to push Vincent. Any animosity Will had for the Roman boy dissipated there.

Something new shone in Vincent's eyes. He shook his head, saying, "By the way, if you ever feel like coming down to California, I could give you singing lessons."

Will would never willingly return to his home state, with the memories there. But he grinned and said, "Maybe."

They shook hands, and Vincent said, "Good luck, Will."

Will nodded, and continued. He had a quest to start.

When Will returned to his cabin, everyone was awake. His siblings were going about the day as normal, having already said their farewells the previous night. Still, they all came over to give him one last big group hug.

Kayla, who was his second-in-command while he was gone, told him, "Now, don't take too long on that quest. I don't think I can deal with Victoria's cattiness for more than a week."

"Hey!" protested Victoria. Victoria was a seventeen-year old punk who hung out with the Ares cabin and glowered during camp singalongs.

Will laughed. "Don't worry, sis. If we're not back in a week, you can assume that something big and terrible ate us. After all, the Equinox is in six days."

Kayla shuddered. "I'd rather not."

Will grinned, saying, "You'll be just fine. If all else fails, use the _couplet's curse_. Now, off to breakfast, the lot of you! I won't have you starving on my account!"

His siblings laughed and saluted him jokingly as they filed out for breakfast. Now alone, Will reached under his bed and pulled out the one thing he hadn't been able to stop thinking about.

It looked like an ordinary arrow, with a Celestial Bronze tip and black fletching, but it was a gift from Apollo. And it was cursed. For a long moment, he just stared at it, wondering whether it was worth the risk.

Maybe... maybe since Apollo's powers were gone, the curse was lifted? Nah, knowing demigod luck, it was much more likely that the banishment had simply strengthened the curse on the arrow. But still, what if the arrow could help him?

 _How?_ Will wondered. _Make a bunch of monsters deaf?_

Still, he stuck the arrow in his quiver. _I won't need it. It's just for emergencies, and there will be no emergencies on this quest. I hope._


	4. Chapter 4

**Will Solace and the Oracle's Cry**

 **Ch. 4: Nico Gets Skysick**

In Will's opinion, until they hit the storm spirits and crash-landed on the bank of the Missouri River, things were going great. The pegasi and Nico were only slightly creeped out by each other, Nico was only slightly grumpy at the prospect of flying across several states, and Will finally got to drive the flying chariot for the first time since Annabeth and Butch crashed it bringing Jason, Piper, and Leo to camp nearly a whole year ago.

There were a few incidents involving skeleton birds and once, something that smelled like a cheese demon, being chased by a gryphon, but other than that, it was actually very calm. You know, for a demigod on a quest flying a 200 mph- plus chariot. The chariot was so fast, Will still had whiplash ten minutes into flight.

Of course, that meant that both Will and Nico's demigod sensors were on overdrive.

"Where...?" Nico started to ask, but stopped, seemingly changing his mind. Remembering what Chiron said about karma, Will forced himself not to finish the question in his mind.

 _Concentrate on the driving_ , Will reminded himself, as they nearly flew into the face of a mountain.

Then, only a few minutes later, as they crossed the border into Illinois, the wind picked up violently. The chariot pitched wildly, pegasi screaming. The sky seemed to disappear under a sudden haze of stormy cloud cover, and the temperature dropped so fast, frost formed on Will's knuckles.

Will pitched forward in surprise and almost dropped the reins. "Gods darn it!" he yelled. "Every time!"

Nico yelped and grabbed on to the side of the chariot, yelling something that sounded derogatory toward horses in Italian. "My hands!" he shouted, and, fingers steaming from the biting wind, he lurched and grabbed onto Will's backpack.

Dark creatures, too incorporeal to see clearly, rushed past them. _Anemoi thuellai_ , Will thought. Evil storm spirits, with bad memories involving the chariot they were riding. They were booking it faster than the two nymphs he'd once seen being chased by some very persistent satyrs.

Then he didn't think too much of anything, because the wind proved too strong for the pegasi, and the chariot plunged downwards.

"Gaaaaah!" he screamed. The ground neared rapidly.

Just as Will was certain he was going to become demigod food for the storm spirits, the pegasi flared their wings. The chariot managed to glide, still jerky, to a controlled stop. The storm spirits were long gone. They were alive.

Will shakily climbed out of the chariot and looked around. Only yards away was what looked like a giant X made of water, like a surgery cut he'd once had to perform on Lauren Winters.

Will tried to remember his geography lessons from Annabeth. Two rivers intersecting in Illinois- well, he was pretty sure they were still in Illinois...

Then he noticed the more gruesome details.

He looked down and noticed something that looked like a severed arm, only about double the size, dry and leathery, and dull green. There were bits and pieces of dead monster _everywhere_ , now that Will looked-almost as many as the battle that had taken place two months ago against Gaea's monsters.

Gumpi whinnied nervously, shaking her mane, and Scarecrow pranced skittishly, eyeing some scattered bones like they were going to animate and attack her.

Will turned to tell Nico that he was going to check up on the pegasi, but stopped. Nico was bent over, clutching his side and retching.

"Nico!" Will yelped, and rushed to his side.

Nico shakily straightened, grimacing. His face was pale and clammy, but it lessened as Will force-fed him a square of ambrosia. After a minute, he shoved himself and Will apart and said flatly, "I hate falling out of the sky."

"You do that a lot?"

"At least once a year. Congratulations, I think this is the roughest one yet, and I've crashed into the Big Lake on your dad's car before."

Will snorted. "You're a real toss-up, Nico."

Nico frowned. "What does that mean?"

"I have no idea, but it sounds about right."

Nico looked around and took in their landing spot. "Whoa," he muttered. "Something big went down here. Where are we, anyway?"

Will shrugged. "Illinois, I think. I'm not sure. Those wind spirits really blew us off course." He looked out at the field of carnage, and an unsettled knot formed in his stomach. "Do you have any idea what happened here?"

"I was hoping you knew," Nico replied. "It must have happened pretty recently, considering all the... monster parts lying around." His brow furrowed. "Something's not right-"

" _Demigods!_ " An angry, growling voice thundered. "You did this to my brethen!"

Will turned and pulled his bow and an arrow out. Next to him, Nico raised his sword. Shadows began to form at his feet.

A group of monsters across the river to their left charged them, rushing into the river and swimming like pros. Will recognized them from the battle: Earthborn, six-armed monsters that were the children of Gaea. Those extra arms must help their swimming, because they cut swiftly through the water.

Nico cursed in Greek, Latin, and Italian. "I thought those things all died out with their mother!"

The leading Earthborn, a hulking, brown-stained mass of pure muscle, lifted his head and yelled, "You wait right there, godly spawn! I am Roque, and I will destroy you! The Straits are protected by ME!"

Will lifted his bow and shot. The arrow went wide, hitting the water. The monsters laughed mockingly. Will groaned and drew a second arrow. This time, he hit Roque in his second arm. For most of the monsters he had faced so far, that would have been enough to turn him into dust. The Earthborn, though, simply used one of his other arms to yank the arrow out.

"Nice try, demigod," Roque growled.

Nico yelled, "You're as slow as a rock, Roque. We'll shoot you all down before you reach... this side?" His voice wavered off into a question, his eyes widening in surprise. The Earthborn had already crossed the river.

Nico hissed, "How did they get here so fast?"

Will could only shrug. He shot a few more arrows in rapid succession. He managed to give Roque two more toothpicks in his side, and one arrow bounced off the chest of another monster behind him. The last two landed harmlessly in the river.

As they took a few steps back, Nico began bluffing. "You won't be able to defeat us! I am the son of Hades, and we already decimated your brothers!"

Will glanced over. "Um, we didn't-"

Nico shot him a glare. " _Just go with it,"_ he whispered. To the Earthborn, he continued, "What makes you think your tiny group can defeat two demigods who helped defeat Gaea herself?"

Roque somehow got even bigger and angrier. "WE GOT FIFTEEN OF THE BIGGEST AND TOUGHEST EARTHBORN, HARDER THAN STONE, BLESSED BY THE EARTH MOTHER! WE'LL CRUSH YOU LIKE ANTS AND TAKE YOU BACK TO THE SNAKE DRAGON TO FEAST ON!"

Will shouldn't have been as shocked as he was. Suddenly, he knew why there was an army randomly standing on the shores of the rivers, though why they were all dead was still a mystery.

"You stood guard on the straits of Corinth," Will said. "You were supposed to be a trap for the Argo II." He did some mental-mapmaking. What river went from North Dakota to Illinois?

"We're on the Missouri River," Nico said. "Probably the Missouri-Mississippi Confluence." Will glanced at him in surprise. "What?" Nico asked. "I spend a lot of time around rivers."

Roque grunted. "WE ARE MOTHER'S BEST FORCES! WE ALONE SURVIVED HER DOWNFALL, AND WE WILL CARRY OUT HER FINAL MISSION, STRANGE UPRISINGS OR NOT!"

Nico looked confident as he held his sword, ready to destroy the monsters. Will had no doubt that Nico could handle those monsters. After all, he had been to Rome and back, and, if the rumors were true, had even managed to survive a trip to Tartarus.

Just as they prepared to charge, though, something happened.

A wave of depression swept over Will, filling him with intense sadness and hopelessness. Who cares if they were going to die thirty minutes into their quest? The world would be better off without doomsday prophecies causing world wars, anyway. What would Camp Half-Blood remember Will Solace as? _The foolish boy who died on a quest after the war was won? The nobody who failed at being a somebody?_

Will never thought he would have suicidal thoughts, until now. Would it be so hard to just choke himself to death? The river was right in front of him. He could just run and throw himself in. Nobody would care. Will certainly didn't. His eyes clouded over and his insides revolted, leaving him more miserable than a rotten egg in a microwave. He sunk to his knees.

Will didn't know why he cared, but something compelled him to look up. And stare in abject horroer, because what he was feeling paled in comparison to what was happening to the monsters, now only feet away.

The Earthborn stuffed their fingers into their own eyes, crying out for mercy. One of them lifted his club and started hitting himself on the head with the butt of it.

But the worst of it was happening to the Earthborn leader, Roque. Growing around him was a plant that, somewhere in Will's medical mind, he recognized as a manchineel tree. It twisted around the Earthborn's body, growing at a super-sped up pace. Wherever it touched the leader's body, huge, greenish rashes appeared. When the monster flailed his six arms, a milky sap squirted from broken twigs, and the sap caused even larger, bloated rashes to erupt. When the sap hit his eyes, they went bloodred, then milky white, almost faster than Will could process.

Slowly, the tree dissolved Roque's very essence from him. The monster screamed out, "AVENGE ME, BROTHERS!", but it came out more like "OWWW!"

Then Will had to close his eyes, because they were stinging from poison. When he opened them again, Roque was gone. So were the other monsters. The only pieces of evidence of them ever being there were a few limbs, some clubs, and of course, the manchineel tree.

Will swallowed. His throat felt uncomfortably hot and dry, signs of inflammation. "Wh-wha?" he croaked.

Someone yelled in his ear, "WILL!"

Will blinked and looked over at Nico, who somehow didn't look shocked by the nightmarish display that had just taken place. He pointed and said, "We need to get out of here, now!"

Will looked around. A dark fog was rolling in on all sides. It hadn't reached them yet, but Will could tell they the billowing clouds were both poisonous and headed their way. He already felt sluggish- or maybe it was still shock.

"Yeah," Will agreed. "Let's get out of here."

They ran to the chariot, and Will flicked the reins, hoping the pegasi knew which river was which, because he didn't have a clue. "Follow the Missouri River!" he shouted. The pegasi didn't need to be told twice. They flew away at hyperspeed.

As they left the dust-filled field, Will's mind swirled with questions. Where had those storm spirits come from? What 'strange uprisings' was Roque talking about? And what was the _thing_ that caused those horrible feelings of depression and killed all the Earthborn?


	5. Chapter 5

**The long awaited Chapter 5! (sorry.)**

 **Ch. 5**

McDonald's and McGods

"What on Olympus was that?" Will asked that night.

After escaping the monster bloodbath, they flew along the Missouri until the sky got dark. Will let Gumpi and Scarecrow go graze, while Nico grabbed takeout from the nearest McDonald's. Now they were sitting in a tent that Nico got from Reyna, who got it from the Hunters.

Will never thought he, a son of Apollo, would be sitting in a Hunter's tent, but then again, he supposed Nico wasn't exactly pumped about flying halfway across the country.

"What was what?" Nico asked, his mouth full of pickle. He'd been avoiding Will's gaze ever since the incident with the Earthborn. For the last twenty minutes, he'd been giving a vivid description of the _draconae_ he grappled with.

"Don't play stupid, Nico," Will snapped. "You know what I mean. That whole..." He waved his hands around, "Wave of depression and poison tree thing. You know something about it."

"I don't want to think about it."

Will sighed. "I'm not trying to pry, I just want to make sure I know all the crucial information!"

"Well maybe _I_ do, too! Before I go jumping to conclusions, I want to know what _she_ has to do with the Oracle!"

A distant moo interrupted their argument. They both froze for a moment, Nico reaching for his sword.

A moment of silence, then Nico said, "It was just a cow."

"But seriously, Nico," Will continued, grabbing Nico's shoulder. "You can tell me any-"

Nico shrugged Will's hand off. "Don't touch me." Suddenly, he looked very tired. "I'm going to sleep. You take first watch." He marched off to his sleeping bag and lay down, leaving Will with two half-eaten hamburgers and many, many questions.

Sitting in the grass, holding bow and arrow at the ready while fighting off exhaustion was _not_ how Will had imagined his first quest. Before the Battle of the Labyrinth, he and his younger siblings had dreamed of glorious adventures, where they killed any monster that dared approach them, didn't stop for trivial things like food and rest, and returned in three days flat, bringing home the carcass of the monster they had been sent to hunt. In hindsight, they had been surprisingly bloodthirsty, considering that they were supposed to also be healers.

Will wondered what Nico's first quest was. He vaguely remembered meeting a much younger and cheerier (and annoying) Nico when he first cropped up, nearly three years ago. He had disappeared very quickly, though. What had the son of Hades been doing in that time? Did he hand around the Underworld, living with his godly father? Or did he go tramping around the world, chasing monsters and training by himself to become as powerful as he was?

"Will, hon, you're not going to get the boy if you keep up with this stubbornness."

Will jumped. Standing behind him was a woman he had only seen once, in a dream. As he peered closer, he realized she wasn't actually there. It was just an Iris-Message. Thankfully, Will wasn't nearly as light-headed as last time he saw her.

"Aphrodite. What are you doing here?" he asked, although he knew what was coming, and dreaded it.

Aphrodite flipped her long black hair over her shoulder. "Well, _you_ clearly need advice from a love expert. Sometimes, you boys are just _so_ hopeless."

"I do not need love advice, Aphrodite!" Will hissed, trying hard not to shout.

Aphrodite giggled. "Oh, your denial is just the cutest! But really, after all you've done for him, do you really expect me to believe that?"

Will grimaced as memories surged through him. Nodding politely as a tiny, black-haired boy chattered along about Mythomagic. Trying to get the skeleton army-wielding boy to sit down for an examination after the Battle of the Labyrinth. Talking animatedly to stupid Mitchell about how he wanted to be the Son of Hades's friend.

"So I cared. So what? Lots of people care about other people." Will was losing the argument, but the last thing he wanted was Aphrodite's "help".

"And I care about you and Nico!" The goddess of love was positively squealing. "Look at the two of you. You're tall-"

"Only six-two," Will muttered. Lee Fletcher had been taller.

"And he's short."

"Tell that to Nico's face." Cecil once called Nico a midget. It took several hours, four wrenches, and a flamethrower to find him trapped in a Celestial Bronze cage inside Bunker Nine. Also an entire week of toilet-cleaning duty.

"You're full of life."

"Like anybody else who is alive isn't. How can somebody be half full of life?" Will shot back rhetorically.

Aphrodite shook her head. "It happens to more people than you'd think. And look, you see the glass half full."

This was ridiculous. Thankfully, at that moment, the IM flickered, and the goddess said, "Oh, it seems that I'm out of drachmas. Oh, don't give me that judging look," she added as Will raises his eyebrows. "I just got back from a shopping spree in Milan. Fashion comes from a place, you know."

Will opened his mouth to ask exactly how one could buy clothes with Ancient Greek money, but the Iris message ended. Aphrodite was gone.

He glanced down at his watch. 2:27. Will's shift was over.

Nico slept in a tiny ball, curled up right underneath the blanket. The last time Will had seen Nico like this was during those three days in the infirmary. He remembered that vividly. They had argued viciously for a few minutes, then Nico decided to lay down and refuse to sleep, a conviction that lasted all of thirty slept three days straight, so deeply unconscious that a few campers even started to become concerned that he had fallen into a coma.

Nico was different, asleep. When he was awake, he had an attitude taller than Will's brother, Michael Yew. He seemed to know just about everything, and everyone respected him. But asleep...Nico didn't seem quite so larger-than-life. He was just another camper, someone forced by the Fates to grow up too quickly.

But even asleep, it was impossible to forget Nico's heritage. His black sword was less than half a foot from him, absorbing most of the light from Will's flashlight and casting shadows into Nico's face. And something felt off- like someone had prescribed a sleeping medicine just a bit too strong.

Will reached over to shake Nico's shoulder, and was sucked into his dream.

 _-It was dark, and it was hot. The air was dry like smoke, but then he realized the air_ was _smoke, and the glowing, harsh ground was fire. All around, monsters writhed in agony as their mutilated bodies knit slowly back together-_

Will leaped pack with a yell, wondering what the heck just happened. He knew that Nico was a powerful dreamer, second only to the Hypnos cabin, but he didn't know that someone could be sucked into a dream like that.

It wasn't even appropriate to call the few seconds of what he'd seen a _dream_. That was a nightmare, and one so horrible that he knew it had to be something Nico had experienced before.

Now that Will looked closer, he could see signs that Nico was having nightmares. He was sweating, and he could see Nico's hands pushing against the fabric of the sleeping bag, as if they were trying to push some unseen invader away.

Will usually called up a Hypnos kid, usually Clovis or Poppy Aster, to deal with nightmares at the infirmary. He didn't know how to deal with them on his own, the way they did it, but he did remember that waking someone up in the middle of one was generally _not_ a good idea, unless you wanted to be punched in the face.

Then Nico's hands tore through the fabric and started wildly swinging through the air.

"Woah!" yelped Will. "Nico! It's okay!" He grabbed Nico's shoulders. "Wake up, Nico."

Nico's eyes shot open. They were dilated to a dangerous degree for a moment, and his breathing was labored. "No- trap-" he gasped.

Will did the first thing that came to mind. He hugged Nico. "It was a nightmare, Nico. It's alright."

Nico must have been really out of it, because he didn't even struggle. He asked, "You're not going to go all therapist on me and make me describe my dream, are you?"

It probably wouldn't be a good idea to tell Nico that he had seen part of his dream, so Will just said, "No. You can tell me if you want, but I'm not going to force you into doing something you don't want. That's just ineffective." He grinned and added, "You're probably better at lying than I am at detecting them, anyway."

Nico gave a small chuckle, saying, "Good. Then can you please stop hugging me?"

Will let go quickly. "Well, I'm exhausted," he said frankly. "Do you feel up to guard duty?"

Will dreamed he was in Camp Half-Blood. It was near sunset, and all the demigods were doing their normal activity. Jake Mason, freshly out of his body cast, ran past, yelling, "I figured it out!". Katie Gardner wielded her shovel as she chased one of the Stoll brothers, who presumably had stolen something important. Again.

Annabeth and Piper walked near him, deep in conversation. For some reason, Will felt compelled to follow them.

Annabeth said, "Percy's disappeared."

"What? Again?" Piper, who was carrying Chuck Hedge, responded distractedly.

For the two months after Gaea's defeat, Percy had disappeared half a dozen times. The first time caused a big ruckus. From what Will had heard, Percy had walked out ("stormed out, leaving a watery ruin in his wake" the Stoll brothers claimed) of his first period class, and didn't return until noon the next day, bloody and carrying a giant tooth. Annabeth had freaked, and three search parties were out by sixth period. Will, Nico, Lou Ellen, and Cecil had been one of those teams. Gods, Cecil had been so outraged when they learned it was just a fluke, and almost conned Percy into 'paying' him until Annabeth intervened. Then he vanished for four hours in Queens, allegedly fighting giant crocodile of some sort. And three days in New Jersey, where he fought a manticore family and/or a mutant duck. There had been a lot of speculation. Will personally thought that sneaking off to fight monsters was a sort of coping mechanism. Eventually, though, Percy's disappearances became old news. He did find it strange that the son of Poseidon would run away from Camp Half-Blood, when he just as easily could have just found a monster to fight in the woods, though.

"This time was different," Annabeth insisted. "We were having an argument. At first, it was just about who caused our team to lose Capture the Flag, but somehow, it turned into a fight about... well, everything. Then he crossed the line. He-" She gulped. "He brought up Tartarus. He said we should go back, battle it out to see who would survive then. I punched him in the face and told him that he might wake Gaea up again with his new nose bleed."

Annabeth started to cry. Will immediately wished he wasn't seeing this. Annabeth crying, especially now, after two months of peace, was just wrong. Piper grabbed her and sat her down on a nearby rock.

"The look on his face," Annabeth said. Will thought it couldn't have been much worse than the look on Annabeth's right then, but he figured it would be a bad idea to tell her. "He asked me if I had ever actually cared for him. Then he just... ran off. Dived into the ocean and swam away. I think... I think that was his final straw."

Piper paled. "You don't mean-"

Annabeth looked down. "You have to help me. I panicked. I called Chiron, the other demigods, everyone, to help me find him. But they just laughed at me and told me it would be like the other six times."

Piper looked like she was about to agree to help, but then her eyes widened. Will looked over to see what she was staring at. Behind Annabeth, Percy appeared, wearing the same old grin he always had.

"Hi, Annabeth!" he said cheerfully. "I got you this flower." He held up a cluster of small, pink, five-petaled blossoms.

Annabeth gaped at him, her tear-streaked face pale as she stared at the ghost she surely thought he was, then grabbed his wrists and pulled them towards her. She examined them, searching for some sort of wound. But Will already knew Annabeth wasn't going to find anything.

Meanwhile, Piper peered curiously at the flowers. "Oleander?" she asked. "Did you pick those up from your backyard or something?"

Percy's grin grew amused, as if he was laughing to himself at some inside joke that only he understood. "Or something," he agreed. "It's not as if I'm rich enough to buy an actual bouquet from a flower shop. Sorry if I worried you, Annabeth. I just had to blow off steam, you know? Anyways, I'm off to bed. See you tomorrow, ladies." He waved as he walked away.

Will sighed, not paying attention to Annabeth and Piper debating about something. If this was what having prophetic dreams was like, he was glad he didn't have more of them. The rest of his dreams passed in a forgotten blur.

Somehow, the flight to North Dakota wasn't interrupted anymore, and the chariot landed for a break later that day. Clouds covered the sky.

Nico leapt out of the chariot, looking infinitely more relaxed than he was during yesterday's botched landing.

The Missouri river was still next to them. Will remembered that that river went all the way up to North Dakota, so provided they didn't- _You know what, I'm not even going to finish that thought,_ he decided.

"C'mon," Nico said, gesturing at a path. "There's a town that way. We can grab some food there."

Will's stomach growled. "Food sounds good," he agreed. "You got money?"

"My dad's loaded," Nico reminded as he started down the path. "I'm hungry; lets go."

North Dakota was a sea of grass. Will and Nico kept to a well-beaten dirt path, but on either side of them grew knee-high grass, stretching for forever in each direction. Cattle roamed everywhere. Ahead of them was a dusty looking town.

A blond man in a tractor slowed next to them. "'Ello, son. Where'd you come from?"

Will's mind blanked.

Nico saved them. "Oh, we were just hiking, you see. Now we're just trying to find a decent place for lunch."

The man grinned. "No problem, son! I got enough space for a pair of string-beans like you in here."

Will hesitated, glancing at Nico, who shrugged. "I could use a break."

They clambered up into the tractor seat. It was a tight fit, but they managed to squeeze in together, even if Nico was practically sitting in Will's lap like a very, very grumpy cat. "Next time," he hissed in Greek, "park closer."

As they approached the town, Will was able to make out a sign at the side of the road.

"Welcome to Jamestown, 'The Buffalo City'," he read. "Weird. I always thought Jamestown was in, like, Virginia or something."

"That's a different Jamestown," Nico replied. "Thank Hades for that. Colonial Jamestown was full of greedy scum who can't get off their butts to save their lives."

"That's right," the blond tractor driver said. Will would have jumped, but there wasn't enough space. "I remember going to that old place. Literal golddiggers, right, boy?" He reached over Will to high five Nico, but he just stared blankly at the hand.

A long and awkward silence ensued. Will studied the tractor driver. He was wearing a dirty, yellow plaid workshirt and bell-bottom-y blue jeans. He was tanned like a California sunbather, and had calloused fingers.

Before long, they were stopping outside a KFC in the middle of town.

A woman holding a little girl's hand waved at them, shouting, "Hallo, Fred!" with a strong Southern accent. Both she and the girl had long brown hair braided down her back and

The tractor driver, whose name was apparently Fred, replied, "Just dropping off a couple of boys I found in the grazing ground. Are we still good for dinner, Lindy?"

As Lindy and Fred talked, Nico found the lock on the tractor door and let him and Will out.

"Thanks for the ride, um, Fred," Will said.

The tractor driver grinned, showing brilliantly white teeth. "Oh, you don't have to call me Fred, son. Nor Mr. Death Breath there."

Nico tensed. His hand edged towards his pocket.

"You can call me Apollo, or if you prefer, Will, Daddy!"


End file.
